Power Point: Bob Rubin admits his regret

how could you possibly say his reputation is enahanced?

he should be in jail!!!! Period. He is a theif.

I don’t understand why Mr. Rubin could not have seen this coming when Citi was writing mortgages that was clear people could not afford. It is so obvious that people could not sustain the increase in interest rates when their ARM reset. Was he and others so removed from the products they were pitching that he could not see this coming? I doubt it.

Below is an extract from Wikipedia to give the readers some background about the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act.

Citigroup played a major part in the repeal. Then called Citicorp, the company merged with Travelers Insurance company the year before utilizing loopholes in Glass-Steagall the allowed for temporary exemptions. With lobbying led by Roger Levy, the “finance, insurance and real estate industries together are regularly the largest campaign contributors and biggest spenders on lobbying of all business sectors [in 1999]. They laid out more than $200 million for lobbying in 1998, according to the Center for Responsive Politics…” These industries succeeded in their two decades long effort to repeal the act. Also, “The newly formed Citigroup announced only days after the deal that it had hired recently departed Treasurey Secretary Robert Rubin as a member of its three-person office of the chairman.”

The repeal enabled commercial lenders such as Citigroup, the largest U.S. bank by assets, to underwrite and trade instruments such as mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations and establish so-called structured investment vehicles, or SIVs, that bought those securities.

Both Sandy Weil, Chairman of Citigroup, and Robert Rubin were instrumental in the repeal of this act which has ultimately resulted in what we are facing today with not only our economy but also the world economy in serious recession. In addition, the Iraq war and other missteps by the Bush administration have bankrupted our great nation. Obama adminstration has the great challenge to fix the mess. We have great hopes. If it too fails, after both Clinton and Bush adminstations have failed, the people will have no choice but to elect the third party. Both Democratic and Republicans have let down for too long.

Watch This America:

http://bankimplode.com/blog/2009/01/10/obama-no-smarter-than-khrushchev-or-mao-says-peter-schiff/

Rubin was overpaid and underperformed at Citi. Who in in the hell was protecting this empty suit for non performance. Did Rubin ever have an original thought at Citi? this guy ripped off the shareholders…

The people writting on this blog could do better running Washington then the current selfish crooks. There is no difference between Republican and Democrat, as they are both controlled by special interests that give them hundreds of millions to stay in office.

We need to return to our roots as a nation. To understand why we are having the economic problems we are having, do you really think that Wall Street did not know that having a housing market increase in value 20% to 30% each year, with no income/asset documentation loans that our who economy will collaspe like a house of cards? If the Harvard and Yale economic bean counters could not see this coming, then we are really in sorry shape. Has any body every connected the dots and the next step is to lower the buying power of the dollar, introduce a new currancy and move us to much like Europe with the Euro. The next step is to the same thing Middle East and Asia, creating 4 economic trading blocks that will be intregrated into one world economy. What a better time to do all of this when the USA and the rest of the world is suffering a global recession. If you don’t think it could happen, look at Germany in the 1930’s and other South American countries. It is done all the time. Printing money is inflationary and when the rest of the world stops buying US Treasuries, you will see interest rates climb that will make the late 1970’s/early 1980’s look mild in comparison.

Also you need to understand that the our founding fathers feared a central reserve bank. Did you know that President Kennedy talked about getting the U.S. off of the Federal Reserve. You can look to see where that got him.

Claw back the millions/billions Mr. Rubin and anyone else associated to this nonsense has been collecting in his or her mail box, this is what the Feds should do, have to do, if they are real about addressing this horrendous, duplicitous, quasi-criminal behavior by the “leading figures” of “Wall Street” and are not just playing a game of smoke and mirrors with all the un-entitled main streeters. Barack Obama it is your duty to do this for all those main streeters who supported you when no one knew your name.

Boy, some people commenting are getting ready for a lynching. Madoff should have everything taken away from him. He should sit in a solitary confinement cell with a television tuned to channels that show fine living and cushy life styles 7×24x365. Taking him out and shooting him lets him off easy, I want to see him suffer without out any assets for the remainder of his life, a little hell on Earth for him before he roasts for eternity.

In my eyes, CEO’s in general are an endangered breed. They bring nothing more than pomp and circumstance to any corporation. I have a bee hive analogy. CEO’s are a single employee out of hundreds or thousands of worker bees. Unlike the queen bee of the hive CEO’s don’t perpetuate the hive by creating more worker bees but they are excellent at siphoning off tens of millions of dollars in wages per year just for being the CEO.

The other phenomenon about CEO’s and the world they live in is, once a CEO always a CEO, just like NFL coaches, after making it to the top they stay there but may coach for a different team every couple of years.

The corporate structure many of us grew up around and worked in will be changing in the next few years. CEO’s are not worthless but they are way, way, way, overvalued for the propaganda they spread about how well things are going in their corporate bubbles.

what is ironic is that none of these f—— will ever go to jail. as every judge in the land will say that being stupid is not criminal. therefore they will all remain free to spend the millions that they were paid.

I agree with John. I am surprised these CEOs are still walking around. Given the number of lives they have destroyed.

For example, how is Madoff allowed to stay in his 5th Ave condo. He should be in the Tombs in general population with the rest of the thieves. As long as we don’t treat these guys like the criminals they are, they will keep stealing from us.

what everyone must remember is that bob rubin is obama’s economics advisor and the mentor of the ‘new’ treasury secretary, + larry summers and all the others in obama’s “TEAM”.

this is the same group that has been running treasury since 1993 all GOLDMAN SACHS people.

Rubin is nothing compared to Paulson. Rubin may have ripped off his Corporation and the stockholders, but Paulson ripped the American people off. Whoever said Bush’s ratings would have been 60% had he been able to hold on a little longer is a complete moron. Bush and his policies, in large part, put us here, including the orchestration of the greatest American heist — TARP. First Paulson tells us $700 billion is needed to buy up Mortgage Backed Securities, then he tells us, no, I need the money to buy preferred shares in the banks. Hmmm, suprisingly, the $700 billion figure somehow remains correct even though the “plan” has completely changed?!? What a sham. And if you want to just blame this on Paulson, then did you forget who appointed him? Ahem, that’d be Bush…..and it’s called Capital Cronyism.

I’m surprised no one has attempted to assasinate any of these CEO’s from the financial industry. I’m surprised that Fortune magazine did not retract their (September 29, 2008)issue with Henry Paulson in the front page when he proposed the $700 Billion bailout with no stipulation. Henry Paulson miscalculated big time when he gave the first round of billions to the banks. He is of the same ilk as the CEO’s of Wallstreet. What made Henry Paulson think that the CEO’s of the financial industry will “do the right thing”?! Character was and is never a trait that one needs to work in Wallstreet or any of the big financial firms. In fact, character is not what financial firms look for when interviewing or finding a person to fill a position. what they do look for is how a candidate can make money for the firm and contribute to their bottom line. what the hell made Henry Paulson, who came from the financial industry, think that the firms will “DO THE RIGHT THING” with the money they recieved from the bailout?!! Fortune magazine should retract their September 29 issue and re-issue another cover with Henry Paulson on the front page with the words on his forehead, “WANTED”. is it any wonder or surprise that Henry Paulson is more than ready to leave his current position with the Federal Reserve?!

He, and other like him, should be taken out and Shot………!!!

He made more in 2006 than most Americans make in a Lifetime.

What is wrong with this picture….?

I am not a communist, but Karl Marx said a so very true axiom of the universe, “quantitative accumulation will result in quality change”, this financial meltdown rooted way back to Clinton’s age, when everyone was busy crooking money and suck dicks and let economy ran its course, now we have this quality change of crisis, it is so inevitable, poor Bush, you did not get a chance to hold on a bit longer so to let this slide into Obama’s hand, that’s way your rating when leaving office will be 60% instead of today’s 27% percent.

Madoff didn’t tell his sons anything they weren’t already in on. He knwew he was cooked with no way out. May Rubin go to the same hell.

President elect should not listen to him, nor takes him advices. He his too smart to be dumm founded by this mess, he just pretends that he could not forseen this financial mess coming. The Fact are clears, as NINA loans spreading all over US in 2005, 2006, and 2007, every person with little common knowledge of basic economy knows that No Income No Asset loans are not just stupid but criminal that caused these big financials melt down, and cuased the millions suffering badly.

Your all absolutely RIGHT in what you say and how you feel about this. If YOU ever want to change the way things are done, then you will need to change your way of thinking. Remember “those who have the power make the rules.” If YOU want to change the rules, then you need to change those in power. We are calling these people stupid….but remember it was us who voted them into office. Stupid is: doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Until we change who we vote for we will never get anything different. Follow my lead, Vote Democrat, Vote Republican or Vote Independent, just don’t vote Incombant! Pass this on via email, during conversations or any means you can…just get the word out. We really are smarter than they are…and our ONLY power is in our VOTES. Let’s take OUR country back!

I can’t believe President-elect is going to listen to a guy who said he knows nothing about the problems that a company he chaired and advised on. what a crook, he needs to return all the money and be put in jail. I hope he is not getting any retirement from Citi. He ran the company to the ground and claimed that he did not know anything. Robin, be a man, takes your responsible and blame. Give our money back.

I agree with the other comments. This man is a total scam. When out in public, good citizens should give Bob Rubin the finger, moon him, or boo him. He should hid out in the mountains in disgrace.

Right on commenters. You got this right. This guys is a crook and should be in jail. However, as long as good Americans invest in these type of companies we are going to have the kind of outcomes we see lately. With a rare exception, anyone in Washington and anyone on Wall Street does not have the interest of common Americans at heart. These guys are our supposed leaders. However, Americans have to refuse to follow them over the cliff. Vote with your pocket books. Take your money out of companies that over-pay these criminals. Find companies that reward executives for good judgement and do not compensate them with bonuses when they have bad years. I guarantee if more Americans start to do this, companies will change. In the meantime, if you ever get a chance to get at one of these CEOs or representatives, knock them on their rich asses. I will do the same for you if I ever get a chance to meet them.

We can continue whining, or VOTE OUT all the criminal incumbent in Congress in 2010 and 2012. We STARTED with the Neo-Constipateds the past two elections, now we need to target Blarney Frank, Pelosi, Reid from Vegas and three dozen others that have been in DC serving THEMSELVES for far too long. Past it on…NO one over 12 years experience in DC or your State capitol!!

Give back the $150 million Bob! You are a disgrace. It won’t give you your reputation back but maybe it will allow you to at least sleep at night and live with yourself.

Robert Rubin is worse than Bernard Madoff. and he belongs in jail along with Chuck Prince, Stan O’Neal, Dick Fulds and other Wall Street criminals. According to news stories Madoff at least admitted to his sons that he was a liar and a crook and he made no excuses. This raises him above Rubin who will not even admit to the fact that he is a rotten lying and incompetent crook. Instead he’s comes out with this self-serving pathetic excuse of “who knew” despite being of the insiders who enabled and profited from the subprime Ponzi scam.

I can’t believe that people are saying things like “If this man is truly an advisor to the new administration I am sorry I voted Democratic.” Rubin has been an advisor to Obama for a long time during the campaign, and most certainly would have been appointed Secretary of Treasury or Fed Chairman if the Wall Street collapse had not been so severe. Rubin has continued to advise Obama privately up to the current point in time. Actually, Obama would have appointed him anyway if it were not for public relations nightmare that would ensue.

The Democrats have extremely close ties with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and even with Maloff. Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s new Chief Of Staff in the White House Emanuel was named to the Board of Directors for the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (“Freddie Mac”) by President Bill Clinton in 2000. During the time Emanuel spent on the board, Freddie Mac was plagued with scandals involving campaign contributions and accounting irregularities. The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) later accused the board of having “failed in its duty to follow up on matters brought to its attention.”

As with most politicians, past and present – they have no class nor integrity. Why?, because we continue to believe them and hope for the best. Oversight means nothing when your policing yourself. (Barney Frank) Representation is not coming from the people it comes from the lobbiest and $. Why believe things can change when there are no consequences, none! Obama and company will do as the ones before, there will be no change except what is left in your pocket. There will be corruption, redirected responsibility and incresed debt that will eventually destroy what is left. Goverment is not the answer but is the problem! We are all being slowly strangled by the Fed’s and will eventually raise the white flag of socialism. Look around you, it is here and gaining momentum.
The only way to regain control is to return to our constitutional roots and demand accountability. First item would be a balance budget amendment and no deficet spending period! Without this, the chances of long term success for this country and our way of life is in serious jepardy.

It is interesting all the comments on how the ceos are at fault. It is partly their fault but what about the government programs that allowed unqualified people take out loans and those that accepted them to buy houses they could not afford? Shouldn’t they be held responsible also???

Everybody was happy enough back when MBS were generating lots of extra revenue.

The ratings agencies are just no substitute for the lender keeping the loan on the books.

The CEOs and politicians with character do not usually make the headlines. Doing the right thing is considered boring in this country.

i think he should give all his money back. he cheated all the shareholders and he is supposed to advise the company.

He did not recognize the problem because he was too busy investing his own money safely while the rest of us suffered. Unbridled greed led to his “lottery” win!!

I see a common thread in the other civil blogs; these criminals should be sitting in the electric chair.

I also agree that the were NOT “blindsided” but instead were CRIMINALL NEGLIGENT. The stock market, governement spending and housing prices were at levels that couldn’t be supported by reality. Any one of average intelligence knew this. My own family started a self imposed austerity program in 2006 for crap sake!!! And HAVARD MBA’s couldn’t recognize this.

Sad thing is these rich b_stards (and this isn’t a class envy statement, I make 6 figures and feel VERY lucky) become sociopaths that only think of themselves and forget about thier common man.

Wow, don’t we all want scape goats in a time of crisis. I don’t think it was Rubin’s or anyone else’s fault. Our economy was at a full sprint because we all asked it to be. We all wanted to make money on our mortgages and maximize return on our stock portfolios. Our economy tripped because many of us couldn’t pay the mortgages we entered and now we’re falling hard on our face because we were going so fast.

Tough beans. Time to get up and get running again. The ignorant mob trying to paste blame on folks isn’t doing anyone any good.

Does anyone really think that OBAMA will take any decision concerning the bailout that will make his administration look bad, even if the action is the correct action? The US Presidency’s 8 year max term is no more than a reflection of the short-term sightedness that has prevalently dogged the often greedy profit-taking, highly paid executives like Bob Rubin. Hey, for that kind of money ($17.3 million in 2006), I would expect him to understand basic economics! Not to recognize the serious possibility of the extreme circumstances that the financial system faces today? Well surely, we don’t need a guy like this leading any company or advising a President. He should just move on, retire and play golf or whatever with his buddy Clinton.

Thank God! A Democrat who is has stuck it to the people, helped destroy a company and taken millions in the process. I do think somehow this is George Bush’s fault. Wake up America BOTH parties are run by millionaire, corrupt politicians with NO regard for those of us who work for a living and pay for all their mistakes. We need a real party of change, a party for the 99.9% of US.

congress should pass a law to recoup also bonuses paid to these citi highly paid executives such as sandy weils,chuck,rubin,thomas Maheras in PRIOR years leading to this financial disaster…they have rob the shareholders for years..
this Rubin should have resigned much earlier,the only reason he staying this long is he still gets his bonus and paycheck no matter what.

Don’t you feel sorry for this Rubin. He only made $17.3 million in 2006.

He has never really worked for a living. He should be forced to live on $40k a year. People like him who makes hundreds of time more money than good hones people should be ashamed of themselves.

I suspect Rubin is high-tailing it out of Citi for a very good reason. Looting the bank of tens of millions of dollars disguised as ’salary’ and ‘benefits’ bankrolled by Citi losses, he doesn’t want to be held accountable when auditors are sent in by the government. When Congress discovers Citi used stimulus money to repay shortfalls created by Rubin’s pay (and pay to other executive crooks) you’re going to see many of these corporate gangsters doing hard time for their financial crimes. Rubin advise the Obama administration? Why not drop all charges against Bernie Madoff and give him a key advisory position in the White House? The taxpayer might get more bang for the buck (although I think most taxpayers feel they’ve been banged hard enough already by corporate criminals).

THE ONLY CHANGE I SEE SO FAR,ONE GROUP OF RUMMIES FOR ANOTHER GROUP OF RUMMIES–

People should look in Waikepedia
where the U.S.Treasury Secretary and U.S. Federal Reserve chairman last worked for before being nominated to their office. Start with Reagan, Bush, Clinton, George H.W. Bush and soon to be in office Obama and you will start to discover who runs this country. Now look at which brokerage house is still in business and you will find out who is in control. Also look at the ties this brokerage house has with AIG and it’s bailout and you will see that we have been sold and taken for a nation of dumb sheep.

Rubin is definitely the right guy for the job … if you need to quickly destroy a company or an entire economy ! Aside from him, very few people have managed to do this.

Fortune did a piece a month ago ask ‘What does Cuomo want?’ Given that he is NY’s A.G., what he WANTS is to BAIL OUT the THIEVES of Wall Street, so they can contribute to HIS PARTY’S UNBRIDLED GREED. Fortune stated he was ‘instilling the fear of God into them, they were trembling…’; yeah, they’re thinking was…’Can we REALLY buy our way out of PRISON with a life sentence, for a few measly million dollars to the NT State Dem Party, and a few more to the DNC for Bonehead Obama’s Grand Fete on Jan 20th???’ WOW! THAT IS CHEAP!

Well.. thank goodness that Obama has advisors like this! I mean…without overpaid, short-sighted dimwits who have tanked multiple large companies to advise him…how else could he be expected to help pull us out of this mess.

If this man is truly an advisor to the new adminsitration I am sorry I voted Democratic…

Return to DC and advise Obama? JUST what we DO NOT NEED, Obama….vulgar and revolting enough to see slick willie’s boot-licking lap dog, proposed as A.G., and now Rubin? Who next, Monica as the intern?You’re doing a HECKOVA job, bonehead!!!

I’m surprised no one has attempted to assasinate any of these CEO’s from the financial industry. I’m surprised that Time magazine did not retract their issue with Henry Paulson in the front page when he proposed the $700 Billion bailout with no stipulation. Henry Paulson miscalculated big time when he gave the first round of billions to the banks. He is of the same ilk as the CEO’s of Wallstreet. What made Henry Paulson think that the CEO’s of the financial industry will “do the right thing”?! Character was and is never a trait that one needs to have to work in Wallstreet or any of the big financial firms. In fact, character is not what these financial firms look for when interviewing or finding a person to fill a position. what they look for is how a candidate can make money for the firm and contribute to their bottom line. What the hell made Henry Paulson, who came from the financial industry, think that the firms will “DO THE RIGHT THING” with the money they recieved from the bailout?!! Time magazine should retract and issue another cover of Henry Paulson on the front page with the words on his forehead; WANTED.

As in a Fortune article about a year ago, Rubin still claims he didn’t realize what was going on. He said then he had never heard of some of these instruments, SIV’s or CDO’s and the like. Neither had most of the general population, but he had to at least know what kind of leveraging was going on to support all these fancy subprime mortgages…after all, he is purported to be an expert on risk. Furthermore, with talk in the press of a housing bubble going back 2 to 3 years, it is highly disingenuous of him to suggest that he was blindsided. Any idiot could see that prices were unsustainably high, and he more than most should have been able to predict the consequences of the inevitable correction. Conclusion: either he was asleep (unlikely) or criminally negligent.

He belongs in jail with Sandy and Chuck.

We should do what the chinese would do, find everyone responsible with this mess,take them out to a field and shoot them.

All apologies I read hear are just disgusting and I think the CEOS should just walk away silently because they don’t have the right to apologize. Its not that I completely blame them but They clearly took risks to maximize their own self interest. Now they walk away with piles of money while the poor and middle class pay the price. To say they are worse off now than before the financial crisis is true, but them being worse off doesn’t really impact their life. White collar crime and irresponsibility creates a society that promotes and necessitates the blue collar crime out there. The only true apology you can make is to anonymously give back every penny you’ve ever made to the general public, but what does no one ever do that?

If only the taxpayers could recoup all the compensation ever paid this halfwit crook.

He will join the public policy making and start pointing fingers, forgetting about his own actions. This is typical for people like him, they fail to observe themselves, and they continue on like they have done nothing wrong, ever. For some reason the Dems seem to love that way of life and get a free pass by all the worshippers. He can go to work for Barney Frank, because he symbolizes exactly what I wrote above. They can join the President in a big debt party to fight debt. Spend, Spend, Keep spending is the motto of the day and the future. Now that many republicans have turned to this way of thinking, most Americans are becoming increasingly unrepresented in common sense clear the dead wood thinking. We just keep the dead wood around to rot and smell even longer and Rubin will help advance that fight along with all the other worthless politicians we have come to love so much in this country. I used to think America knew what it was doing, now I don’t feel the patriotism for a country that has gotten away from responsibility and individual freedom. Rubin will just make the place stink even more. Awesome.

IT IS MIND BOGGLING THAT HARD WORKING CLASS AMERICANS WHO HAVE BEEN BABOOZLED, SWINDLED ARE SITTING IDLE. WHY DO THE CEO’S AND CFO’S WALK AWAY WITH A PAYCHECK WHEN THEIR PERFORMANCE DID NOT MEASURE UP? THE HELL WITH A CONTRACT. A CEO IS AN EMPLOYEE OF A COMPANY UNLESS HE OR SHE IS THE OWNER. WHILE THE AVERAGE EMPLOYEES ARE LOOSING THEIR JOBS, THESE CEO’(CRIMINAL EXECUTIVE OFFICERS ARE WALKING OUT WITH THEIR SALARIES BONUSES AND PERKS. CAPITAL PUNISHMENT SHOULD BE ADDED TO THE TERMS OF THEIR CONTRACTS.

“…burnish Rubin’s reputation again?”

Uhh, what reputation are you talking about? He and Sandy ( I want EVERYTHING) Weill are not much worse than Bernie Madoff.

It is hard for me to believe that a person with his “expertise” and experience did not recognize the serious posibility of the extreme circumstances that the finanacial system faces today.”
That tells it all. The man on Main Street has MORE insight of what is going in this country than the Rubins of the financial markets.

Go back to Washington? Really? This is the same guy who helped Enron deregulate energy in the late 1990s. This is the same guy lobbied the Bush administration on behalf of Enron. How about going to jail instead?